Batting

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara baseball travels to play a weekend series against West Coast Conference foe Pacific starting on Friday at 6 p.m. PT. The Broncos (20-22, 6-12 WCC) are in the midst of playing eight straight road games and 12 of 13 games away from Schott Stadium, going 4-4 on the road in that span. After playing the Tigers, the Broncos travel to Stanford on Tuesday to wrap up the road trip.

This Week in Bronco Baseball

• This past Tuesday, the Broncos swept the home-and-home series against Cal Poly beating the Mustangs 4-3 on the road playing both series contests in the last two midweek games. Starter Michael Praszker threw a career-high six innings, giving up four hits and one run. Reliever Penn Murfee gave up two runs in the bottom of the ninth but closed out the game pitching the last three innings to pick up his third save of the season. The right-hander struck out five and did not issue a walk. Jake Brodt (3-for-5, R, 2 RBIs) and Matt Smithwick (3-for-3, RBI) combined to drive in three of the four runs and six of the 11 hits.

• Santa Clara is 8-10 on the road this season. Pacific is 10-10 at home.

• Pacific (18-25, 8-13 WCC) will host Santa Clara in its final home stand of the season and on Saturday, the Tigers will recognize its five seniors.

• The Tigers sit in ninth place in the conference standings, just ahead of the Broncos with the Tigers having played 21 conference games versus 18 for the Broncos.

• Pacific is hitting .247 as a team, the same mark as the Broncos. Catcher James Free, a WCC second teamer last season as a freshman, leads the team with a .322 batting average, six homers and 22 RBIs. Matthew Tarantino also has 22 RBIs. Free also leads the team in runs (28), slugging percentage (.477), and on-base percentage (.412)

• Tigers' Friday starter Shelby Lackey has made 11 starts in 15 appearances this season posting a 4-3 record with a 3.63 ERA while striking out 60 and walking 19 in 67 innings.

• Neither the Bronco nor the Tigers have announced its Saturday and Sunday starters.

Last Week in Bronco Baseball

• Santa Clara won three of four games last week including the midweek game against Cal Poly 10-7 at home and taking two out of three against San Francisco on the road in a WCC matchup.

• Against the Mustangs, the Bronco bats came for 14 hits and 10 runs to win 10-7. Reliever Penn Murfee pitched the final 5 2/3 innings to pick up the win for Santa Clara.

• The two wins against the Dons came in extra innings (4-3 win in 12 innings on Friday & 12-5 win in 11 innings on Saturday).

• On Friday, Jake MacNichols hit the go ahead RBI double in the 12th inning as Luke Martin-Resnick (2-1) pitched the final three innings, allowing three hits and no runs to pick up the win for the Broncos.

• On Saturday, Jake Brodt hit a three-run home run in the top of the 11th inning to break a 5-5 tie to propel Santa Clara to a 12-5 win and a series win.

• In the series finale on Sunday, the Dons collected season-high 18 hits and 12 runs including scoring six runs in the second inning to take a 6-1 lead that it would not relinquish, winning 12-4.

Series Information

Game #43-45

Stockton, Calif. | Klein Family Field

All-Time Series: Santa Clara leads 87-47. The teams first played in 1895 and last played in 2017.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

•Forty-two games into the 52 game season, the Broncos have improved by seven games in the overall win column (four games in the home win column and three games in the road win column) thus far.

Schedule

•At this time there is no make-up game scheduled for the UC Davis game which was postponed back on March 13.

•The series against Pacific will be the 43rd-45th game of the season. The Broncos have just one home series remaining against Loyola Marymount from May 11-13 as the Broncos played a schedule front loaded with home games. The Broncos are in the midst of playing eight consecutive games on the road.

•Brodt is second in the WCC in RBIs with 45 (behind Jordan Qsar, Pepperdine, 46).

Solid Start

•Santa Clara got off to a 14-5 start, its best start since the 2012 season when it went 13-3.

•The Broncos won four consecutive series (2-1 series win over Wake Forest Feb.23-25; 3-0 sweep over Utah March 2-4; 3-1 series win over Sacramento State March 8-11; and 2-1 series win over San Diego (March 16-18) before losing the series against Saint Mary's (March 23-25).

Tale of Three Seasons?

•After starting the season 14-5 by winning four straight series and seven games in a row, the Broncos slumped winning just two out of the next 18 games including losing nine in a row. In the last five games, Santa Clara has won four, including a series win at San Francisco and sweeping the home-and-home series against Cal Poly.

Extra Inning Magic

•The Broncos are 6-1 in extra inning games this season with three of them coming off in walk-off fashion (Feb. 24 vs Wake Forest in 14 innings; March 4 vs Utah in 12 innings; March 8 vs Sacramento State in 10 innings, March 10 at Sacramento State in 10 innings). It won its first four extra-inning games before losing to BYU on game one of the double header on April 6.

Santa Clara has won the last two extra inning games coming on back-to-back games at San Francisco (April 27 & 28).

•Joe Becht's 36 consecutive games bases reached streak came to an end against Washington State on April 22, having safely reached base in the first 36 games of the season. (Got a hit in 25 games, drew a walk in 10 games he did not get a hit in and was hit by a pitch in the other game he did not get a hit or walk).

•Grant Meylan's 20 consecutive games bases reached streak came to an end against Pepperdine on April 13.

•Santa Clara had won six consecutive one-run games before losing to Saint Mary's, 6-5, on March 24. The Broncos are now 8-5 in one-run games.

•John Cresto hit a home run in four consecutive games, all solo shots, from Feb. 23 - 27. He hit one in each game of the Wake Forest series as well as in the midweek game against Nevada.

•Closer Eric Lex recorded a save in three consecutive games from Feb. 27 - March 4.

•The Broncos had a season-high seven game win streak from Feb. 27 - March 10 and a nine game losing streak from March 31 - April 15.

•Senior first baseman Jake Brodt and junior third baseman John Cresto were named preseason All-West Coast Conference. Last season, Brodt was named first team All-WCC with Cresto being named honorable mention All-WCC.

Brodt's Two Grand Slams In One Inning

•Brodt hit two grand slams in the seventh inning on Feb. 17 against Boston College, becoming just the seventh Division I player to accomplish the feat since the NCAA began keeping records in 1957. He is the first to do so since 2000 when T.J. Soto of Louisiana Tech did it against Western

Kentucky.

•Brodt's first grand slam came with the Broncos trailing 9-7 in the seventh inning and put them up for good. His second grand slam came with the Broncos up 16-9. In the first inning, Brodt hit a sacrifice fly for the first RBI of the game and in the sixth, Brodt hit a solo home run to finish the game 3-for-5 with three home runs and 10 RBIs.

•The Huntington Beach, California native's two grand slams in an inning was featured on ESPN's SportsCenter and was named NCBWA National Hitter of the Week and Rawlings West Coast Conference Player of the Week.

In Season Accolades

•Jake Brodt has twice been named the WCC Player of the Week this season on Feb. 19 after his two grand slam in an inning game and a month later on March 19 after going 5-for-14 with three doubles, two home runs and drove in seven runs against San Diego while playing first and third base.

oKarcich returns to his alma mater where he played for the Broncos from 2007 – 09 where he was a two-time All-West Coast Conference honoree.

oKarcich was selected in the seventh round of the 2009 MLB draft by the California Angels as an infielder.

oKarcich coaches the infielders and serves as the bench coach but will occasionally coach first.

•Assistant coach BK Santy, a former catcher at Washington, coaches the catchers and outfielders as well as serving as the third base coach.

oSanty was selected in the 30th round of the 2012 MLB draft by the Minnesota Twins as a catcher.

•Assistant coach Greg Gonzalez, a former pitcher at Fresno State, serves as the first base coach and an occasional bench coach.

oGonzalez was selected in the 15th round of the 2011 MLB draft by the San Diego Padres as a pitcher.

New for 2018 - Pre & Postgame Interviews At Home Contests

•Listen to pregame interviews of Bronco coaches and players before every home game this year on TheW.tv live stream with Bronco play-by-play announcer David Gentile. Interviewees are announced on Bronco Baseball social media platforms (see footer) and on the series preview on SantaClaraBroncos.com Tune in approximately 10 minutes prior to the first pitch.

•After each home win, postgame player interviews are live streamed also on TheW.tv with Gentile.